CARSON CITY - Connect Nevada released new data showing that broadband adoption in Nevada is increasing, with 75 percent of residents now subscribing to broadband service. That's up from 67 percent in 2011.
Mobile broadband usage also increased from 46 percent in 2011 to 54 percent. Despite this progress, not everyone in Nevada is benefitting from these advances in technology, according to a news release.
"We're excited to see healthy growth in Nevada toward embracing the amazing educational, professional, and quality-of-life benefits that high-speed Internet provides," said Connect Nevada Program Manager Lindsey Niedzielski.
"However, this new study makes it clear that the expense of the service is now creating a digital divide. Connect Nevada is working hard to address broadband access, adoption, and use across the state so that every Nevada resident is offered the same opportunities for a bright and prosperous future, regardless of factors like age, race, income, or where they live in the state," she said.
The data are available via an interactive widget on the Connect Nevada website.
Among the key findings of the residential survey are:
•Three out of four Nevada households subscribe to home broadband service, which is an increase of 8 percentage points from 2011.
Despite this upward trend, more than half a million Nevada adults still don't subscribe to broadband service at home.
•Mobile broadband is also growing in popularity across Nevada. Statewide, more than one-half of Nevada adults (54 percent) use mobile broadband, up from 46 percent in 2011. This includes 55 percent of rural Nevadans.
•Nearly half of Nevada's low-income households do not have home broadband service, and approximately 48,000 low-income Nevadans rely exclusively on mobile broadband service.
•Expense plays a role in whether Nevadans adopt both home and mobile broadband. Approximately 105,000 Nevadan adults who do not subscribe to home broadband service say that the monthly cost of service is too expensive, while 104,000 Nevadan cellphone owners do not subscribe to mobile broadband on their cellphones due to the monthly cost.
Nevada cellphone owners report that the main reason they subscribe to mobile data plans is for the freedom of being able to access the Internet while away from home.
While the results show broadband adoption increasing, approximately 513,000 adults (25 percent) in Nevada still do not subscribe to the empowering technology of high-speed Internet.
To address this digital divide, Connect Nevada offers the Every Community Online program, which offers free digital literacy training and low-cost computers and Internet access.
For the 2012 Residential Technology Assessment, Connect Nevada surveyed 1,201 adults across the state in late 2012. Connect Nevada conducted this survey as part of the State Broadband Initiative (SBI) grant program, funded by the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Telecommunications and Information Administration, and by the American Recovery and Reinvestment of 2009.[[In-content Ad]]
